Synthetic detergent in masses and their manufacturing methods

ABSTRACT

SYNTHETIC DETERGENT IN SOLID MASSES AND IN HOLLOW MASSES. SAID SOLID MASSES ARE PRODUCED BY FIRST PREPARING A SLURRY OF SYNTHETIC DETERGENT CONTAINING A RELATIVELY LARGE AMOUNT OF SODIUM SILICATE WITH OR WITHOUT A FOAMING AGENT, THEN EITHER PLACING THE SLURRY IN A MOLD OR ON A TRAY WITHOUT THE USE OF A MOLD, AND DRYING THE SLURRY WITH HEAT TO FORM MASSES OR CAKES OF SPECIFIC SHAPE CORRESPONDING TO THE CAVITY OF THE MOLD OR TO FORM MASSES OF NON-SPECIFIC SHAPE. THE HOLLOW MASSES ARE PRODUCED BY HEAT-DRYING A SLURRY EITHER IN A MOLD OR ON A TRAY TO FULLY FOAM THE SLURRY BY UTILIZING THE FOAMING AGENT AND/OR THE MOISTURE CONTAINED IN THE SLURRY. THE HEATDRYING IN THIS INVENTION DOES NOT RELY ON THE CONVENTIONAL SPRAY-DRYING PROCESS WHICH REQUIRES AN EXPENSIVE, LARGE SCALE APPARATUS. SYNTHETIC DETERGENT IN MASSES HAS MANY UNPRECEDENTED ADVANTAGES OVER CONVENTIONAL DETERGENTS AVAILABLE IN POWDER OR GRANULAR FORM.

March 1972 RlNNsuKE SUSUKI ErAL 3,649,545

SYNTHETIC DETERGENT IN MASSES AND THEIR MANUFACTURING METHODS 2 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Jan. 15 1970 FIG-4 FIGJ March 1972 RINNOSUKE susum E'I'AL 3,649,545

SYNTHETIC DETERGENT IN MASSES AND THEIR MANUFACTURING METHODS Filed Jan. 15 1970 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent 3,649,545 SYNTHETIC DETERGENT IN MASSES AND THEIR MANUFACTURING METHODS Rinnosulre Susuki, Tokyo, Hiroshi Hoshi, Narashino-shi,

and Jim Saito and Kiyoshi Moriki, Tokyo, Japan, assignors to Raion Yushi Kabushiki Kaisha. Tokyo, Japan Filed Jan. 15, 1970, Ser. No. 3,103 Claims priority, application Japan, Jan. 16, 1969, 44/3,251; Feb. 8, 1969, 44/9,537; May 15, 1969, 44/44,734; May 16, 1969, 44/ 15,036

Int. Cl. Clld 17/04 US. Cl. 252-174 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Synthetic detergent in solid masses and in hollow masses. Said solid masses are produced by first preparing a slurry of synthetic detergent containing a relatively large amount of sodium silicate with or without a foaming agent, then either placing the slurry in a mold or on a tray without the use of a mold, and drying the slurry with heat to form masses or cakes of specific shape corresponding to the cavity of the mold or to form masses of non-specific shape. The hollow masses are produced by heat-drying a slurry either in a mold or on a tray to fully foam the slurry by utilizing the foaming agent and/or the moisture contained in the slurry. The heatdrying in this invention does not rely on the conventional spray-drying process which requires an expensive, large scale apparatus. Synthetic detergent in masses has many unprecedented advantages over conventional detergents available in powder or granular form.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of the invention The present invention is concerned with synthetic detergent obtained in masses or cakes, either solid or hollow, and it also relates to the manufacturing methods therefor.

(b) Description of the prior art Typical conventional detergents are available in powder or granular form. Powder or granular detergents have a good flowability, which provides for an advantage that the packing is performed with efliciency. In addition, these known detergents are of a further advantage that the particles of detergent are easily soluble in water. However, the powder or granular detergents of the prior art have the drawbacks that the fine particles of detergent are apt to be carried into the air by air current, entering into the eyes and the nostrils of the user and stimulating them. These detergents also have the defect that the powder to absorb ambient moisture and to coagulate.

In addition to the foregoing drawbacks and defects, the conventional powder or granular synthetic detergents have still further, important disadvantages. One such disadvantage will hereunder be considered from the aspect of a certain ingredient of the composition. It will be noted that these conventional detergents are manufactured by relying on the spray-drying technique. This particular drying technique, however, inevitably limits the amount of sodium silicate which is an important cleansing component of the detergent and which is incorporated into the slurry composition. This is because the inclusion of an excessive amount of sodium silicate will give rise to the formation of SiO due to the reaction between the sodium silicate and the carbon dioxide contained in the combustion gas employed, and because the resulting SiO will make the washing water turbid. Thus, conventional 3,649,545 Patented Mar. 14, 1972 synthetic detergent powders or granules have the inconvenience that the amount of sodium silicate which is available at a low cost and yet has a powerful cleansing abilitymust be limited in most cases to only several percent by weight relative to the total weight of the composition.

On the other hand, when viewed from the aspect of equipment for use in the manufacture of synthetic detergent, the spray-drying process employed in the manufacture of conventional synthetic detergent powders or granules requires the provision of an expensive spraydrying tower of a large scale, and this tower tends to exhibit a considerably high prime cost of operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to completely eliminate the drawbacks and inconveniences of the prior art and to provide synthetic detergent in novel mass or cake form, either in solid masses or in hollow masses, and also to provide the manufacturing methods thereof, featuring the use of a slurry which permits sodium silicate-a principal cleansing component which is cheap and has a powderful cleansing abilityto be included in said slurry in any large amount as required.

Another object of the present invention is to provide synthetic detergent in solid masses and in hollow masses, instead of providing the detergent in powder or granules as in the prior art, each of said masses or cakes having a specific or non-specific shape, as desired, and having a size substantially greater than that of the granules of the detergents of the prior art.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide novel methods of manufacturing synthetic detergent in solid masses and in hollow masses without relying on the spray-drying process which requires the provision of a large-scale and costly apparatus for this purpose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic cross sectional view of a mass of the synthetic detergent, showing an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 2 through 4 are similar views, showing ditferent embodiments;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are somewhat diagrammatic perspective views, partly in section, of two different shapes of the products obtained according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a somewhat diagrammatic perspective view, showing still another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a somewhat diagrammatic cross sectional view taken along the line 8-8 in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a view similar to FIG. 8, showing the product having a hollow portion.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The composition of the slurry of synthetic detergent which is employed in the present invention features the use of a large amount, say, in the range of from 10 to 50% by weight, of sodium silicate which, in the prior art, has been used in a very limited amount of only about several percent.

The remainder components of the composition of the detergent employed in the present invention may comprise known ingredients for use in conventional synthetic detergents, i.e. various cleansing agents which are solid in normal state, builders, fillers and perfumes. The inclusion or omission of those components other than the cleansing agent can be selected appropriately as required. More specifically, by the term cleansing agent is meant generally a substance selected from the group of substances consisting of alkali-alkylaryl-sulfonate, alkali-alkane-sul- 3 fonate,-alka1i-alkene-sulfonate, soap and various mixtures of these substances. The term builder points to a substance or a mixture of two or more substances selected from the group consisting of various carbonate such as alkali-tripoli-phosphate and alkali-pyro-phosphate, and Glaubers salt. The detergent components may include, whenever desired, a filler such as clay and diatomaceous earth, in addition to perfumes and color agents. The proportion of these various components can vary with the type of the product to be desired, but the proportion may follow the composition ratio of any conventional detergent.

T he composition of the synthetic detergent obtained according to the present invention may include a small amount of foaming agent to an extent of, for example, 0.1-5.0% by weight. Such a foaming agent which may be used includes those of organic nitrogen group such, for example, as toluene-sulphonyl-hydrazids and azo-dicarboxylic-acidamides.

When it is intended to mold the synthetic detergent slurry having the aforesaid composition into masses or cakes of a uniform, specific shape, it is only necessary to use a forming device or mold having a cavity corresponding to such a shape. When, on the other hand, it is desired to obtain the synthetic detergent in masses or cakes of non-specific shape, the use of the mold is omitted. Theamount ofmoisture to be contained in the slurry is such that, when a mold is used, it may be relatively large, say, in the range of 20-50% by weight. When no mold is used, the slurry must have a viscosity sufficient for the masses or cakes of slurry to retain their own non-specific shapes independently. To this end, the amount of moisture contained in the slurry is, preferably, lower than about 2% in such an instance. The selection of molding the slurry into either a specific shape cakes or non-specific shape cakes represents merely the difference on whether or not a mold is used, and, accordingly, the difference on whether or not the slurry is of a tlowability sufficient and convenient for being poured into the mold. Thus, there is no essential difference between the various embodiments with respect to the subsequent processes which will be described later. Bearing this in mind, the methods of the present invention will be described including the aforesaid selection.

The mass of detergent slurry which has been prepared in a specific shape in a mold, or the mass of detergent slurry which has been prepared in non-specific shape and is placed on a support such as a tray, is dried by the application of heat at a temperature ranging from about 80 to about 250 0., preferably in the range of 120-180 C. This heating may be performed by the use of either a furnace equipped with a resistance heat generator or a high frequency heating device, or a heating apparatus of the type utilizing steam introduced under a high pressure.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the mass of synthetic detergent embodying the present invention which is obtained by heat-drying an amount of slurry of detergent having the aforesaid composition which is received in a mold having a spherically shaped cavity configuration, said amount being such that the cavity is filled substantially fully. The mass of detergent thus obtained is of the structure represented by a spherical shape having a solid shell 1 and a number of bubbles 3 formed therein resulting from the foaming etfected by the foaming agent and or the moisture contained in the slurry.

FIG. 2 shows another example of the mass of detergent obtained by first placing an amount of similar slurry in a mold to such an extent as will have some space left between the slurry and the wall of the cavity in the mold, and then by fully foaming the slurry by heat-drying. The resulting mass is of a porous structure having a hollow portion 2 formed thereinside and having a shell 1 which also has anumber of formed therein. FIGS. 5 and 6 show masses of detergent which are obtained by exactly the same manufacturing methods as described above. These masses are formed by the use of molds having a columnar shape and a square case-like shape, respectively. It should be understood that, when the slurry is dried by the application of heat in a mold, there may be applied a pressure of the order of 50200 kg./cm. thereto in a manner similar to that employed in the compression molding of a synthetic resin.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show masses of detergent which are obtained by first preparing masses of detergent slurry of appropriate shapes without the use of a mold, then placing them on a support such as a tray or a board, and drying them by the application of heat thereto. The mass shown in FIG. 4 represents a product obtained as a result of foaming which has taken place vigorously and fully, and presents a structure that the mass has a hollow portion 2, similar to that shown with respect to the mass of FIG. 2, formed inside the shell 1 which has a number of bubbles 3 formed therein.

Among the masses of detergent described above, those having specific shapes gives one a conception which is completely different from the conception which one obtains from the conventional detergents which are available in powder or granular form. The masses having specific shapes create a great deal of interest in the user in that the masses may be formed in any desired shape, such as automobile, ship or animal, by the use of a mold. They also have the advantage that the amount of detergent constituting each mass may be controlled so as to make the masses substantially uniform in size and weight relative to each other. This means that the present invention offers the user the convenience, i.e. it eliminates the troublesome procedure of weighing the amount of detergent required for each washing which usually has been performed by the use of, for example, a weighing cup. The user can substitute this weighing step by the mere counting of the number of masses or cakes of detergent.

A more advanced mode of this conception is incorporated in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 7 through 9 wherein .the products have modified shapes. They may each be called a continuous blocks of detergent composition. As will be noted from the drawings, these embodiments feature the structure comprising a number of blocks 11 of synthetic detergent which are connected together in the form of an integral bar at grooves 12 which, in turn, are formed to define the borders between the respective blocks 11 so as to facilitate the manual separation of a desired number of blocks from the continuous integral bar. The block 11 shown in FIG. 8 is of a cross section characterized by a porous structure having a number of bubbles 3 formed therein. It should be understood that the blocks 11 may be formed so as to have a hollow cross section defining a hollow portion 2 therein as shown in FIG. 9. In each of these instances, it is preferred to form the respective blocks in such a way that each block will have a standard unit amount of detergent suitable for use in one washing cycle which may correspond to, for example, one cupful of conventional powder or granular detergent.

' The hollow portion formed inside the mass or cake of detergent as shown in FIGS. 2. 4, 5 or 6 may be so defined by casting suflicient foaming which is effected during the heat-drying process, as has been discussed previously. It should be noted, however, that this hollow portion may be formed also by positively introducing a fluid into the mold in a manner as in practiced in the blow molding of a synthetic resin. As a means of forming the slurry into a mass or cake of a specific shape, it is possible to resort to the injection of the synthetic detergent slurry into the cavity of the mold in a manner similar to that employed in the injection molding of a synthetic resin, and then the resulting slurry may be dried by heat. This is considered to represent a modified embodiment of the method of the present invention.

The features of the masses or cakes of detergent which are prepared according to the present invention may include the following outstanding points that the porous structure of the masses or cakes insures easy solubility in water, that the bulk specific gravity of the mass or cake can be controlled freely so as to permit it to have a relatively large value, and that the packages intended for the market may employ novel style which is considerablv different from the packages for the conventional powder or granular detergents.

Example 1 Percent by Weight Sodium-alkylbenzene-sulfonate 12 Glaubers salt 8 Sodium-tripoli-phosphate 20 Sodium silicate (used as a viscosity promoter) 40 Water 20 150 grams of slurry of synthetic detergent having the abovementioned composition were introduced into a mold having a cavity confi uration of a rectangular parallelepiped of 20 cm. x 20 cm. x 10 cm., and this slurry was heated to 110 C., after which the heated slurry was left to stand. In 20 minutes, the slurry was removed from the mold.

The product mass thus obtained was noted to have an apparent specific gravity of 0.4. The proportion of the actual volume of the effective components against the apparent volume of the product was A drop test which was performed on this product from the height of 1 meter did not show any detached fragments of the composition from the body of the product. However, the mass could be easily broken apart into small pieces by hands, and the mass was noted to have an excellent solubility in water.

Example 2 Percent by weight Sodium-alkylbenzene-sulfonate 7 Glaubers salt Sodium-tripoli-phosphate 11 Sodium silicate 39 Foaming agent comprised principally of toluene-sulphonyl-hydrazid 1 Water 20 80 grams of detergent slurry having the above-mew tioned composition were poured into a columnar mold having a cavity size of 10 cm. in diameter and 7 cm. in height. The resulting slurry was heated under the pressure of 150 kg./cm. for 5 minutes. Thereafter, the temperature was elevated to 130 C., and the slurry was allowed to foam and to be molded under the pressure of 100 kg./cm. while being heated. The configuration and the size of the resulting product was identical with those of the cavity of the mold used. The product exhibited a moisture content of 13% and an apparent specific gravity of 0.2. The mechanical strength and the solubility in water were similar to those exhibited by the product obtained in the preceding example.

Example 3 10 balls of detergent slurry each weighing 5 grams and having the composition identical with the slurry of the preceding example were placed on a board. These balls were covered to keep the applied heat from escaping therefrom. The space defined by the cover and the board was heated to 150 C. to foam and to thereby mold the slurry. The resulting 10 pieces of product in mass or cake forms of non-specific shape were noted to be substantially uniform in shape and to have a hollow portion formed within each of the pieces. They showed a mechanical strength and a water-solubility which were similar to those exhibited by the product obtained in the preceding example.

We claim.

1. A method of manufacturing a foamed synthetic detergent in shaped masses, comprising steps of packing a synthetic detergent slurry consisting of 525% by weight of cleaning agent selected from the group of water soluble alkali metal salts of alkyl benzene sulfonate, alkane sulfonate, alkene sulfonate, soap and mixtures thereof, 1050% by weight of sodium silicate, 15-40% by weight of builder selected from the group of sodiumtripolyphosphate, sodium-pyrophosphate and Glaubers salt, 2050% by weight of water into a mold having a predetermined cavity configuration; and of drying the resulting slurry by heating said slurry to a temperature in the range of -250 C. whereby said slurry is foamed by virtue of the removal of moisture contained therein.

2. A method according to claim 1, in which said slurry contains additionally 0.1-5.0% by weight of a foaming agent selected from the group consisting of toluene-sulphonyl-hydrazids and azo-dicarboxylic-acidamides.

3. A method according to claim 1, in which the heatdrying process is affected at a pressure in the range of 50-200 kg./cm.

4. A method according to claim 2, in which said heatdrying process is affected at a pressure in the range of 50-200 kg./cm.

5. A method according to claim 1 in which the temperature of said heat-drying process is in the range of -180" C.

6. A method of manufacturing non-shaped masses of foamed, synthetic detergent material, comprising the steps of preparing a synthetic detergent slurry consisting of 525% by weight of cleaning agent selected from the group of water soluble alkali metal salts of alkyl benzene sulfonates, alkane sulfonates, alkene sulfonates, soap and mixtures thereof, 1015% by Weight of sodium silicate, 1540% by weight of builders selected from the group of sodium-tripolyphosphate, sodium-pyrophosphate and Glaubers salt and 1020% by weight of water; and of drying the resulting slurry by heating to a temperature in the range of 80-250 C. whereby said slurry is foamed by virtue of the removal of moisture contained therein.

7. A method according to claim 6 in which said slurry consists additionally of 0.1-5.0% by weight of foaming agent selected from the group consisting of toluenesulphonyl-hydrazids and azo-dicarboxylic-acidamides.

8. A method according to claim 6, in which the heatdrying process is affected at a temperature in the range of 120180 C.

9. A method according to claim 6, in which the heatdrying process is affected under a pressure in the range of 50200 kg./cm.

10. A method according to claim 7, in which said heatdrying process is affected under a pressure in the range of S0200 l g./cm.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,284,248 5/1942 Baker et a1. 252-174 3,247,122 4/1966 Schaafsma et a1. 252174 1,681,355 8/1928 Lowenfeld 252134 1,828,361 10/1931 Crary et al. 252-134 2,407,647 9/1946 Bodman 252134 FOREIGN PATENTS 542,874 7/1957 Canada 252-174 LEON D. ROSDOL, Primary Examiner W. E. SCHULZ, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. I 252-90, 134 

